Marketing communications Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing communications - Case Study Example These leaders thrash their competition through superior customer insights that have been translated into compelling value propositions and superior customer experiences. Marketing has never been more significant as business firms scuffle and skirmish to differentiate themselves from competitors and obtain organic growth and financial success. Some of the world's most revered business corporations that include GE, Microsoft, and Intel, recognise the importance of marketing as a top line growth driver. At GE, where marketing was the "lost function" under Jack Welch, Jeff Immelt has invigorated the marketing organisation. At Microsoft, Steve Ballmer repeatedly stressed the marketing organization's lead role in making the company's "value propositions shine through for customers." And at Intel, Paul Otilleni fundamentally and drastically departed from the engineering-driven mindset of relentlessly increasing microprocessor speed to a marketing-led approach designing microprocessors for specific customer end-use applications like mobility and entertainment. While marketing is more influential and strategic at a few firms, the state of marketing at most firms is lacking. There are two evident problems with how marketing is practiced today-the role of the marketing organisation and the value that marketing is perceived to add to the firm's bottom line. Additionally, business firms, most especially huge organisations, employ an extensive array of marketing communications tools and metho ds to promote their companies, their products and services. Examples of these tools include brochures, mail shots, websites, TV ads and the like. The objective of all these is ultimately to achieve sales, customer base expansion and eventually market supremacy. Therefore, it is imperative for firms not just to be able to communicate effectively but to know what appropriate methods to use and determine if the segment they're trying to reach is really the sector they need to communicate their messages to. Integrated Marketing Communications This is a concept designed to unify all facets of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. The goal is to fuse them into one working activity rather than permit each one to work in isolation. Basically, it aims to create and sustain a single look or message in all elements of a marketing campaign. However, practitioners remind clients that IMC should permeate every planned and unplanned communication at every contact point where the customer or prospect may receive an impression of the company. Practically, IMC must assimilate the corporate mission, the compensation plan, the management style, and employee training. It likewise includes packaging, positioning, promotions, pricing, and distribution. In its entirety, a successful integrated marketing communication plan should customise what is needed for the client based on time, budget and resources to reach targets or goals (Kotabe & Helse n, 2004; Young, 2005). Product Overview The PlayStation 3 trademarked PLAYSTATION3 but more commonly known as PS3 is the third video game console of the PlayStation brand from Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the highly sucessful PlayStation 2. It competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. This is a fully